Summer Blueberry Cucumber Salad with Toasted Pecans

Salads are the perfect light meal to enjoy any time of the day, and this recipe makes what could very well end up becoming your new favorite salad. It makes a summer blueberry cucumber salad with toasted pecans and a homemade olive oil dressing that’s made with lemon juice and honey.

How to Make a Summer Blueberry Cucumber Salad

Here’s how to make both the blueberry cucumber salad and the homemade olive oil dressing:

• Begin combining the ingredients. Add the cucumber slices, blueberries, sweet onion slices,chopped fresh mint and toasted and chopped pecans to a large bowl.
• Prepare the olive oil mixture. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and honey to a small bowl and whisk to combine.
• Season. Season the olive oil mixture with salt and black pepper to taste.
• Pour. Pour the olive oil mixture over top of the salad.
• Toss. Toss the salad to coat.
• Serve. Serve the summer blueberry cucumber salad immediately.

(Also try: Strawberry Spinach Salad)

3 Reasons Why You Should Eat More Salads

Salads are amazing for several reasons – they’re quick and easy to prepare, they’re super yummy and they’re loaded with health benefits. With that in mind, here are 3 reasons why you should be eating more salads:

• Loaded with essential vitamins and minerals. Both fruit and vegetable salads are absolutely jam packed with essential vitamins and minerals. This particular blueberry cucumber salad is a great source of antioxidants, vitamin C, dietary fiber, vitamin K and more.
• Low in calories (or high if you’d prefer). Since salads typically use low carb fruit and veggie options, they tend to be rather low in calories. With that being said, if you’re looking for a heartier salad, you can easily make your salads a lot more calorie dense by including protein sources like egg, shrimp or chopped nuts.
• Helps to protect against disease. Leafy greens and antioxidant-rich fruit like blueberries have been shown to help protect against disease. It’s a combination of antioxidants, dietary fiber and being loaded with micronutrients that helps to keep inflammation down, lower high blood pressure, and ward off the damage caused by harmful free radicals that all contribute to protecting against chronic inflammatory diseases.

Cucumber Salad Alternatives

Apple Cider Vinegar Cucumber Salad

Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad

Onion Vinegar Cucumber Salad

Shaved Japanese Cucumber Salad

How to Store Homemade Salads for Maximum Freshness

Here are a few quick and easy to remember tips for storing your salads and keeping them as fresh as possible:

• Keep the salad and dressing stored separately.
• Keep both the salad and the homemade olive oil dressing sealed up tightly inside of airtight containers.
• Most homemade salads will typically keep for 3 to 5 days when stored in the fridge.
• Depending on the ingredients used, homemade dressings will usually keep for up to 3 to 4 days (or potentially up to a week if they’re vinaigrette based).

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